We’re Swedish creatives currently studying advertising and brand design at Ravensbourne University. Like many other universities around the world, we’re now completing our studies digitally for the foreseeable future. Before Covid-19 kicked off, alongside our friends, we were planning to apply for a number of internships and placements over the summer – but for obvious reasons this is now a little uncertain.

Young people all over the world will agree when we say – being a student right now is not the easiest. It’s quite uncertain what the climate is going to be like once we’re no longer in lockdown. Will there be a recession? Are there even any agencies that are planning to hire graduates? These were just some of the questions that were swirling around in our heads. It became hard to see a clear path to our futures – but surely, we thought, there must be something we can actively do to help ourselves. We needed to come up with a solution – after all, we are creatives, so obstacles and overcoming them comes second nature to us.

The idea of creating a Long Distance Internship hit us like a bolt of lightning whilst we were discussing what we as students could do to better our situation. After taking a look at LinkedIn, we saw a video from [advertising agency] Saatchi & Saatchi, showing that they had an all-staff ZOOM meeting with over 200 people in it. The words “Nothing is impossible” were plastered all over the video. This thinking is what really sparked our imagination.

We realised that if no one could host us in their physical space, surely there could be a different digital solution. We live in different parts of the country, so we were already used to working over ZOOM. We want to show agencies that we are still available to take on placements and are more than capable of completing tasks from the comfort of our living rooms. It was one of those ideas where we were just like “Oh man, we really have to do this.”

The initiative is basically a callout to any agency that is willing to take on a virtual intern – we’re hoping other students will also use our method. This is the best time to try out new things and experiment. Constraints spark creativity. So to anyone who wants to try this out themselves, do it! Reach out to your dream agency and explain the concept.

Right now everything feels disorientating, but it’s possible that this reset will completely change the industry and the way we work for the better. Our hope is that The Long Distance Internship will help reintroduce some normalcy back into our lives and the lives of many other students during this difficult time. We’ve had brilliant responses to the initiative so far – people seem to like the idea a lot and we’ve had some exciting people engage with it. We’re yet to have any takers – so for any agencies out there that want to try a new way of working, do get in contact!

Learn more: instagram.com/jackandmans